Video: Archaeologist Says Arabs Broke Temple Mount Status Quo

The Arab world accuses Jews of digging under the Temple Mount, but the Arabs themselves are illegally excavating, an archaeologist told INN TV.

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IsraelNN TV: Yoni Kempinski, 04/11/09 10:51 | updated: 11:05

Arab illegal digging at Temple Mount

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In wake of the claims that Israel is excavating under the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and undermining Muslim mosques in order to cause them to collapse, archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai told IsraelNN TV the opposite is true.

He charged that it is the Arabs who have acted against the status quo and have "brutally" excavated land that contains many ancient artifacts from Jewish history.

Dr. Barkai spoke about the "Sifting Project," in which countless archaeological finds are being discovered in the rubble dug up by the Muslims. He also discussed his most famous discovery: small silver plaques containing the Priestly Benediction from the Book of Numbers, which he found in 1979.

These plaques contain the oldest surviving Biblically-related inscription discovered to date, dating back to 600 B.C.E.